Discussion: Due to a glitch in a software update, tens of thousands of Google e-mail users got a pretty big shock recently: All of their emails and contacts disappeared. Fortunately, Google was able to recover all those lost emails and contacts, but the process took hours because the search giant backs up all e-mail data… Read more »

Discussion: In 2008 human rights groups and politicians condemned top Internet companies for complying with China’s restrictive laws and censorship requirements. In response, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo signed a code of conduct intended to protect online free speech and privacy in restrictive countries and hoped other technology firms would follow suit. But social media giants… Read more »

Discussion: If you think of Microsoft as big, sleepy and dull, their current R&D is certainly trying to prove otherwise. Building on the success of the Xbox Kinect system, which racked up 8 million in sales in its first 60 days, Microsoft is developing natural user interfaces, a shift from the old graphical user interface. … Read more »

Discussion: Vint Cerf, who helped design the architecture that the Internet is built on, is now the chief evangelist at Google. In an interview with CNN, Cerf describes the Internet as a “giant tent, under which you can do almost anything you can imagine and program.” Cerf praises the Egyptian people for using the Internet… Read more »

Discussion: The genius of Apple – taking existing ideas and refining them – continues with NFC (Near-Field Communication), a microchip that can send and receive data across a very short distance. Industry speculators believe Apple has plans to take this technology, which has been around for several years, and roll out “iCash.” Instead of swiping… Read more »

Discussion: The size of a grain a salt and costing about nine cents, radio frequency identity (RFID) chips are set to combat counterfeiters worldwide. Although the technology has been around for years, only recently have the chips become small enough and affordable enough to put in paper labels, embed in packaging, or encase in glass… Read more »

Discussion: The Future Store, a supermarket near Düsseldorf, Germany, aims to discover profitable links between technology and shopping habits. Thanks to Near Field Communication (NFC) chips in their smart phones, shoppers will soon be able to scan the barcodes of items as they pick them off the shelves and a final barcode will be generated… Read more »

Discussion: Struggling to keep up with ever-changing technology and the cost of IT provisioning, companies are adopting the “bring your own computer” (BYOC) policy. Not only do employees have the freedom to choose their own devices, they also have the freedom to access their office desktop remotely. Both Microsoft and Intel subsidize hardware, while Citrix… Read more »

Discussion: EPB, a Chatanooga, Tennessee, utility company, hit two milestones in the last two weeks of 2010: It completed the final touches on one of the fastest Internet pipelines in the world (200 times faster than the average U.S. download speed), and it activated the first automated switches on its electricity network (which is expected… Read more »

Discussion: Beverly Macy, technology writer and author of The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing, discusses the rise of social media and whether it’s a mainstream, revenue-generating business or the next dot.com crash. While companies like Facebook and Groupon are indeed making money, what’s concerning is the amount of money chasing the next big thing… Read more »